We have abundance of spinners, at least we think so! When, I was a young guy, I often used to think when Md. Rafique will retire what will happen to our test cricket? The reason behind it was a scenario where I used to see Md. Rafique bowling all the days (and nights) whenever I switched on TV like Muttiah Muralidharan. Thanks God that, after the retirement of Md. Rafique we also got spinners of caliber.

How good are they? Are they any better? Who is the best among them? Should we do some experiments by giving exposures to some new ones? Is anyone exceptionally talented among the bunch?

Well, I tried to grab some stats. The stats are only based on first class performance because in that way, it will provide an equal platform. I also considered only spinners who are playing now. Onus is yours to judge the questions above.

My 2 Cents based on stat:
1. Saqlain Sajib seems to the most impressive guy (Avg. and SR). His performance is far better than his competitors considering the number of matches he played.
2. Sohag Gazi seems to be the most promising on the lot.
3. Md. Rafique is a legend but we were able to produce spinners who are similar or better than him.
4. Mahmudullah/Naeem/Nasir should only be in the team because of their batting performance. Their bowling in first class cricket justifies little to proclaim them as an good bowler.
5. Stat of S. Shuvo looks good, too.

What do you guys think?

Nadim

November 12, 2012, 08:09 AM

Shakib----------->>>Rest of the spinners together.

Tiger444

November 12, 2012, 08:21 AM

No doubt that our spinners are very good. That's the only spot that we're golden in. 1 thing we should focus on however are the offspinners and legspinners. Only Gazi is a legit offspinner prospect and Nur is the only legit legspinner prospect. I'm happy that the selectors have broken the trend of taking SLA's and are taking the risk and taking Gazi. If we can get more variety, then we could really have a good spin attack.

Gowza

November 12, 2012, 08:58 AM

What about shuvo? Pretty sure his stats stack up well against these guys though he wasn't so impressive during his international stint.

fuadomar

November 12, 2012, 09:27 AM

What about shuvo? Pretty sure his stats stack up well against these guys though he wasn't so impressive during his international stint.

Yes, you are right. I added him.

By the way, he played 1 test and took 4 wickets for 146 runs averaging 36.5. Will not say, that bad!

RazabQ

November 12, 2012, 03:39 PM

Stats only tell part of the story. To me a top FC spinner should be able to do the following things
1) Rip it. Not roll the fingers but genuine rip so that the ball spits off the surface
2) Loop it. Variations of flight and drift. Ability to toss the ball up above batter's eye-level and get batter to lift his head and then beat him with dip, trajectory, etc.
3) Variations of pace. Be able to mix up the speed and keep the footwork of the batsman honest
4) Variations of spin - sliders, arm balls, carom ball, wrong 'un, etc.
5) Courage. Lots of courage. Throws up the ball after being hit for a six
6) Patience. Spend over after over setting a batsman up for that one mistake.

When I look at the names you have listed, Shuvo, Arafat and Razzak immediately don't make the cut. As I mentioned in another article - their success owes much to our FC batsmen's impatience and lack of technique with the low bounce off the pitches coming in as 2ndary.

Saqlain is a great flighter of the ball. He's better than Shak in that regard. However he doesn't rip it. That's why he gets hammered when he plays against international A-team players

Sunny is the real deal. Rips the ball. Great control of flight. Problem is that he doesn't have a lot of variations.
Shak is a smarter and more intuitive version of Sunny. Hence his success in the international arena. He of all BD spinners has bowled some big league jaffas.
Enam had all of the attributes except for #6. He would try to hard. I think he's getting better on that and sooner or later he's going to break into the side. He's the McGill to our Shak Warne :)

Overall, all our spinners are weak on variation and rip. And most are weak on how to use flight and not bowl flat darts onto the pads.